you're the sun, you're the day
by Lunar Wings
Summary: [Solangelo, post-BoO] Of blanket piles and rainy days.


Nico is hard-pressed to even come out of his cabin on days like this. You'd discovered that much _months_ ago.

The cold drizzle falls around you as you make your way over to Cabin 13, tugging your hoodie tighter around yourself. The magical barriers surrounding the camp usually keep out inclement weather such as this, but in the later months it's not uncommon for some to seep through on certain days. You've always chalked it up to Mr. D grumbling about the cold and making the year-round campers suffer as a result. Thankfully that claim doesn't seem to have made its way to his ears yet, because you're fairly sure you'd get an earful of your own.

" _Now you listen here, Bill Sullivan, you're lucky I'm not letting a blizzard in,_ " you can hear him say in your mind. " _Those Nor'easters are pretty brutal, I hear!_ "

That's not to say that you enjoy this kind of weather either. As a son of Apollo, naturally you vastly prefer the light of the sun on any given day - especially because your moody boyfriend seems to be _warming up_ to it too.

You chuckle to yourself as you climb the few steps leading to the door of the Hades cabin. Nico definitely would've smacked you upside the head for that pun, if he weren't probably huddled up in a mountain of blankets right now.

Quietly opening the door of the cabin, you poke your head inside. (He'd learned to expect this from you a long time ago.) "Nico," you call out, "are you awake?"

The mound of sheets shuffles for a moment, a pair of dark eyes poking out from a hole near the top. "Yeah."

You grin and invite yourself inside, shutting the door with your foot as you cross over to the bed. "How you doing, sunshine?" you ask as you take a seat next to the blanket pile. The pile deflates slightly, and you let out a short chuckle as you unzip your damp hoodie and hang it on the bedpost. "Not so good today, huh…?"

"Meh," Nico's muffled voice responds. He pulls the hole in his blanket cocoon open a bit wider. "I had another nightmare, if that says anything."

You feel your smile falter as you reach around behind him, rubbing small circles into his back. "Tartarus again?" He silently nods in response, and you let out a sigh and tug him closer to you.

In your humble opinion, Nico's a far cry from where he used to be. In the last few months since Gaea's defeat, you've done all you can to instill self-worth into the son of Hades; you've slowly and patiently coaxed him out of his moods and he'd gradually opened himself up to you, telling you about his sister and his old hopeless crush on Percy and his trip through Tartarus and the many other hardships he'd suffered throughout his life. It had been a lot for you to take in, and all you could do was hold him as he'd choked out his words.

It didn't mean _every_ day was a bad one for him. He'd definitely become more outgoing - particularly after the two of you started dating, much to your amusement - and was willing to actively engage in conversation with the other campers. He was still quite reserved, though, and you can't fault him for that. Some people just _are_ , you'd told him; there was no reason for him to feel bad about needing to recharge and recover from social interactions, or overexerting himself, or anything like that.

Of course, there are still times when he keeps to himself, and when he wakes himself up with his own panic attacks after dreaming about _that place_ again, and when he thinks too much and begins to doubt himself and his actions. You've stood by him through all of it - you hesitate to call yourself his _pillar_ or anything. You're more of a foothold for him to hold onto until he can find the strength to push himself back up. Your relationship is not about "fixing" him so much as supporting him as he tries to fix himself, and that's how he prefers it.

You slowly reach over, tugging at the hole in the blankets. "Got room for one more in there?" you ask, giving him a soft smile.

Nico grunts and nods, opening up the blankets enough for you to scoot in next to him. As usual, you take your place behind him and he leans back into you, his frail body pushing up against your chest as you help him pull the blankets around the both of you. You coil your arms around his waist as he settles in your lap, bending his head back to rest on your shoulder.

"Do you need to talk about it?" you whisper, lips close to his ear.

He shakes his head, setting his arms atop yours. "Nothing to tell, just the usual shit. Pulsing skin for a ground, rivers of fire, and whatnot."

He's trying to be nonchalant about it, but by the way his hands tremble against your own, you know he's still shaken up from it. You tighten your embrace and bend your head down to press a kiss into his neck. "It's okay," you respond quietly. "I'm here now. The only ground _you_ have to worry about right now is this fluffy bed."

Nico lets out a snort as he snuggles closer into you. "That doesn't even make any sense, Solace."

You smirk against his neck. "Few things do, bony butt." He jabs you in the stomach with his elbow at the nickname, and you cackle and blow a raspberry into his skin in response. That drags a yelp out of him, and you alternate between blowing more raspberries into his cheek and pressing kisses against it; his laughter continues as he tries to squirm out of your grasp, to no avail.

Your own laughter joins his as you cease the torture and hug him close, burying your nose in his tangled hair. His giggling gradually dies down and you inhale deeply, taking in his scent. The fact that _you_ are able to make him laugh like that never ceases to put a smile on your face.

He slowly relaxes in your arms, heaving a sigh. "You're warm."

"Yeah?" you reply, reaching up to brush a few strands of black hair out of his face.

Nico's gaze meets yours; his brown eyes, once as dark as the night sky, have a warm glint to them that you _know_ is there because of you. The corner of his mouth curls up into a half-smirk, and he blinks at you as he replies, "yeah."

Smiling, you shift your position so that you can lay down a bit more, resting against the multitude of blankets and pillows piled up against the headboard. Nico curls up against you even more and peeks out the small gap in the curtains hanging next to his bed.

You follow his gaze for a moment before peering down at his face. His eyes are closed and he takes a deep, slow breath. You lift one of your hands to rest against the side of his face, brushing your thumb across his cheek. "Can't wait for the sun to come back out, huh?"

He cracks an eye open, giving you a sidelong glance. "Nah. I've already got all of the sun I need right here."

Your lips turn up in a smirk of your own. "Gods, you make it sound like you _like_ me or something."

"Nah. All these hugs and kisses I've been giving you? It's 'cause you're lame and also a nerd." He turns his face toward you, his grin matching your own.

You lower your face closer to his, so close that the tip of your nose touches his. "Right back at you, Death Boy."

Nico brings a hand up to grasp your golden curls and his lips meet yours. In that moment you're full of sunlight and warm summer breezes, and no matter what the weather outside is like, you don't mind being his sun for a while.


End file.
